A Mullah reads me my last rites, asks me to accept Mohammed as my savior so that I may some day find myself in the land of 72 virgins. I chuckle, some where from beyond the tears, and ask him do you guys really believe that? I thought that was just what you told the nut-jobs that you sent on Islamic suicide missions to give them motivation. Anyway, I ask him to consider whether 72 Virgins might actually be some of the gay teens that Islamic Nations hanged back in the day. I then advise him more seriously that the warrior prophet and pedophile, Mohammed is in hell with all the followers of Islam along with Hitler, Mussolini and that I found the way, the truth and the life a long time ago, and thus certainly have no sympathy for the devil, his belief system and his disciples here on earth. While my lord may not have allowed for me to save humanity, at least not just yet, that in these darkest hours of our planet, a veritable New Dark Ages, I advise him that as one of the last resistors, though I am no prophet but merely a foot soldier of Christ, he is surely about to put forth Armageddon on this planet. After they destroyed Capitalism, the Muslims having no comprehension of birth control had over over populated the planet and were on the verge of exhausting all of its resources.

I advise him that I had hot wired a radio before it was confiscated and that I know that FOX News: Radio Free America is still “now broadcasting from the underground command post, deep in the bowels of a hidden bunker, somewhere under the brick and steel of a nondescript building and that I have had the opportunity to once again make contact with our leader(s)”, the descendants and heirs of Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the foot soldier for truth, justice and the American wayCurtis Sliwa who served as the last guard before New York City was over run by the Mullahs.

The Mullah smiled smugly and said ok wise guy, before I execute you, I will have our Slave Chefs formerlyofSmith & Wollensky and The Palm prepare you whatever your heart desires to prove that Islamic Society can make your favorite dishes better than you have ever had them during the period before the Islamic Crusades destroyed Western Civilization. After being granted the one last wish of the meal of my choice, I look at the Mullah and advise him that unlike the animals he regularly dines with, I prefer to use utensils and sit upright at a table rather than eat with my hands, that is if we still have knives and forks left in Islamerica.

Upon completing my meal which admittedly was in fact quite tasty, I take my butter knife which it turns out is actually a box cutter and slit the throat of the guard, forestalling my execution and make my way through the catacombs whereupon I see the head of Andrew Cuomo(who finally joined the resistance despite taking Bloomberg’s endorsement) before finally coming across the people under the city and we make our escape by Sea…into the Hudson River and I head north with the only hope to some day, once again have Breakfast in America.

The most difficult thing to do as a New Yorker, one who has a profound respect for the history of New York and the import of being a citizen and who like a tourist in his own backyard loves every inch of this great metropolis and every parcel of land across the Empire State, is to recognize the great works of your heroes who have made great strides to advance the interests of New York City in challenging times, but who you ultimately have to acknowledge cannot see the forest for the trees. It hurts to have to be the one to point out that they have ignored the will of the people and worked from a template contrary to the license granted by citizens for their governance.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg, I enthusiastically supported your candidacy for Mayor and voted for you each time that you ran for office, although the first time I needed a nudge from Rudy Giuliani. In 2009 when you ran for a third term, following your lead, I also compromised on principle, overlooked what George Will referred to as your dispensable arrogance and the refusal to take your case to the people in the form of a public referendum and instead using political elites, including former Governor Mario Cuomo. Instead I watched and over looked your rigging of the New York City Council vote by using your vast resources to influence influential local charities to back your third term, while neutralizing dissent even though I thought that there was a better way. Bottomless campaign coffers actually worked to your detriment and stood in the way of your making the case to New Yorkers more effectively, passionately, personally and purposefully. But what campaign consultant is going to tell you to spend less money, roll up your sleeves and make your case door to door or community to community or do a listening tour ala Hillary Clinton (who by the way is still looking for unemployed and underemployed Americans to help retire the campaign debt of a multi-millionaire)? With all due respect to the so called brilliance of your Counselor Howard Wolfson, were I your advisor, you would still be a popular Mayor and well positioned to be succeed or challenge President Obama. And not that you need it but you would have had another $100 Million to give to charity, but maybe in this economy Madison Avenue is as equally worthwhile a charity.

I compromised on principle because I believed that these were unusual and uncertain times and I was not eager to trade in your administrative expertise and executive leadership skills and replace them with that of a machine politician. In fact a couple of years ago in a brief conversation at Fete de Swifty, the charity event supporting the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, I implored you to run again for that very reason. You could not be any more wrong had you financed yourself the building of the Ground Zero Mosque and donned a construction uniform and built it brick by brick with your own hands. Where was a similar passion to rebuild the Twin Towers instead of just a simple NO? But you broke my heart Mike, you genuinely broke my heart and rubbed salt in the wounds with your pure chutzpah.

Likewise, I longed for the day that Andrew Cuomo would have the opportunity to inherit the mantle of one of my political heroes in Mario Cuomo. But something happened along the way. In a post 9/11 world, the images of that day no longer seem relevant and some forget the lessons of 9/11 and maybe no longer hear the Voices of September 11th. Perhaps there are machinations behind the scenes that we will never know fully about. Maybe there are some reasons why our leaders cannot level with us or disclose who or what they represent beyond their own political self-interest. Frankly, you can stop calling it “public service” when all you do is give “lip service” to the interests of the public, your accountability to them and their right to know.

The [Current] Kings of Establishment Politics in New York, Mosque Bloomberg and Andrew Cuomo, have finally broken bread. I am hardly surprised. But you have to wonder given the status of things, the unrest in the electorate and the revolution brewing across the state and this great land of ours, who stands more to gain and more to lose from the photo op? The Mayor who is viewed as a “holier and richer than thou” elitist by many and referred to as King Bloomberg or the Emperor of New York early in his third term finds himself in the cross hairs of a public no longer entirely in his corner. Having stuffed a third term down New Yorkers throats hardly makes him a sympathetic figure. As stated by Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News:

“Michael Bloomberg tells people where to smoke and where to walk in Times Square, how much fat they can have in their food, bullies anybody who gets in his way. Now anybody who disagrees with him on the building of this mosque is against freedom of religion and the First Amendment. Why? Because Bloomberg stamps his foot and says so, that’s why.”

Mosque Bloomberg, the man who hand picked faux candidate/straw-man, former Comptroller Bill Thompson to lay down for him, but still almost lost despite spending over a $110 Million and buying off a political mastermind of the Independence Party, the man who chose to bypass the will of the people and a public referendum by stacking the City Council, the man who said NO to the Twin Towers but YES to the Ground Zero Mosque with every ounce of his being, announced his support for the Prince of Darkness of Democratic Politics, who is conveniently backed and represented by an even darker force in New York politics, political scumbag Al D’Amato. And you are surprised? Examine the evidence closely. Andrew Cuomo and his advisors were running a stealth campaign for Governor even while he was Attorney General. Cuomo hardly had Spitzer’s back and in fact took the first shot to undermine him shortly after he became Governor. And in fact the moment Spitzer was out of the way, Paterson found himself in the Prince of Darkness’ cross-hairs. Cuomo had no plans on challenging Paterson, a sitting Governor in his own party. Instead he had to scandalize and disgrace him until Paterson got the hint to step aside. You see Cuomo did not need another situation where he was perceived as pushing a black leader aside. Frankly once you removed Eliot, Paterson was a walk in the park. While Paterson is a nice man and actually quite capable, his presentation as a Chief Executive was seen as lacking by most voters and Andrew Cuomo’s allies were only to happy to gracelessly humiliate him further to force him aside. He was thus never able to muster the full support of the people and he too has been cuckolded into supporting the architect of his own demise. In the end the crashing of Spitzer’s rocket served hungry Democrats as much as it did Republicans, for in the vacuum of power, the old guard was reinstalled, one far last challenging to the establishment. Some will say that is just politics. Well, if that is just so, some of us would like to see the man wash, his seemingly clean hands, in the public eye, not operating or conniving in the shadows.

One has to consider whether ultimately the Bloomberg endorsement will give Andrew Cuomo some leverage on the margins with independents and Republicans or just the opposite paint him as a quintessential insider and not a man who has risen from the political graveyard to the latest, greatest white hope of the Democratic Party. For all the humility and gravitas that his father had, which he may lack, Andrew suffers none of his father’s hesitant ambition. Whereas Mario Cuomo was perhaps unfairly labeled “Hamlet on the Hudson” for his careful deliberation about the prospects of the next step, Andrew is brash, resilient and unafraid, an ACE Pupil and disciple of the Clinton School of Politics. Underestimate Andrew at your peril. If he makes Governor, served by the Bloomberg stable of journalists, he will without a doubt run for President.

A White Knight with Dirty Hands

Fast Forward to 2010 and Andrew Cuomo as the ”White Knight” for Democrats is problematic given his baggage at HUD during the Clinton Administration, his fingerprints all over the policy which ultimately led to the Sub-Prime Crisis, the Economic Meltdown in the Global Economy as well as his stealth campaign to open up the Governor’s mansion for his coronation. The evidence is overwhelming, check You Tube. Furthermore, that we allowed for the rather timely and convenient removal of a guy who was trying to warn America about the impending house of cards about to implode on civilization in Eliot Spitzer and in effect replace him with who but the guy who helped design the Ponzi scheme that collapsed our economy. It is almost frightening how unbelievable this is.

“The problem that Andrew has, behind the scenes, everybody knows he’s the dirtiest, nastiest political player out there. That’s his reputation in Washington. When his father was governor, he had brass knuckles and played hard ball,” said Spitzer. “He has a lot of enemies out there. Nobody is willing to stand up to him. When it appeared he was going to win it, it was inevitable. If it appears not to be not inevitable, things will change, he has a lot of folks he’s been on the wrong side of, who say, ‘wait a minute, he may not want to pretend he plays that game, he does’ and he’s worse at it.”

Eliot Spitzer speaking on CNN may have opened the door to the possibility of the crashing and burning of Andrew Cuomo or maybe merely briefly slowed the steam of Cuomo’s juggernaut. In line with the coronation, the convenient removal of Spitzer, Paterson’s standing down, Cuomo’s embrace of Bloomberg and his effort to gain the Governor’s Mansion without debating Carl Paladino or engaging the electorate via meaningful and critical interviews, town halls and interactions with citizens who may ask tough questions is highly problematic for anyone who believes in the Democratic process and anyone who believes that ultimately our leaders answer to the people. Andrew Cuomo has seemingly risen beyond that with a campaign war chest accumulated from who knows what they want or what they expect. Given Cuomo’s troubling history at HUD, his contributions to the economic collapse, and the trajectory of the American economy, Andrew needs to address and level with the American people. Perhaps Andrew to address his HUD Legacy, can say something along the lines of the following:

“The Cuomo family has historically fought the good fight, from the underclass and the forgotten to the often overlooked middle class. Remember my fathers speech about the ‘Tale of Two Cities’ at the Democratic Convention in 1984? Most Americans with any sense of history do. I was there, we did not feel too elite back then; our battle for the little guy who needed help and could not find it was an uphill battle. Imbibed with that same sense of purpose while at HUD to ameliorate economic despair and what has now been framed Third World America by Arianna Huffington. We thought that there was an opportunity to provide home ownership and eliminate the risk of homelessness for those who often cannot get the favorable treatment from mainstream financial institutions. Were we idealistic, excessively hopeful? Yes. Given the technological revolution, the never ending rise of the Dow Jones, we thought as did many economists that the days of endless prosperity were upon us, days of boom and bust and cyclical economies were a thing of the past. We made errors because we thought we could lift many Americans out of the cycle of paycheck to paycheck living. Many far more savvy than I in terms of economics and the regulatory environment made similar mistakes.

What has happened breaks my heart but what breaks my heart even more is that we are back to the same place were those who we sought to serve still struggle with home ownership and economic insecurity. Do we give up or do we reinvigorate with a new sense of purpose and a pragmatism developed from the historical mistakes? I am not perfect. I too have learned from my errors, I am well advised and eager to serve. I invite your inquiries, your judgments but those of you who know my family name, my pedigree, know of what stock I come from. I am not an elitist but rather a pragmatic humanist. I am open to enlightened debate and a serious and spirited dialoque about New York’s future. There are serious people with serious voices who may offer us solutions and a legitimate intellectual dialogue and spirited debate about the future of America and of New York. I am one of them and I want to be your Governor. Give me a chance. I know it is hard to have confidence given the musical chairs in the Governor’s mansion but I am committed to stabilizing leadership of New York.”

Anything short of a statement and a course or action that illustrates a respect for the electorate and this Registered Democrat will likewise stand down and pull the lever for Carl Paladino. In the end, I expect Andrew Cuomo will play it safe because there is still a chance he can win that way. But he can change the political dynamic by exposing his vulnerability to the public who has become distrustful of those who seek political appointment rather than public confirmation, after a series of candid disclosures and an earnest examination of their record, prior to their ascension to office. He should learn how a broad cross section of New York has in many respects turned against Mike Bloomberg, including some of his formerly most loyal supporters. And unlike Bloomberg, who barely won despite spending over $100 million against a man who many have come to see as a faux candidate and Bloomberg straw man in Bill Thompson, Carl Paladino is actually waging a campaign. Game on Andrew. Your serve.

While the temptation surely exists to take down Paladino with cheap shots while working the media to give Andrew Cuomo a free ride, and dodging debates, I dare say that you may just end up riding the Cuomo Titanic into political oblivion. The Bloomberg endorsement may come to be seen as the kiss of death for Cuomo’s campaign, in terms of what it represents for many voters right now and that is elitist indifference to their real concerns.

What is really crazy is not to be as angry as Carl Paladino with what our political leaders have done to New York State. If you expect to walk into office by avoiding inquiry showing your New York State Driver’s License and Birth Certificate that you are in fact Mario Cuomo’s son, that is what will make voters even crazier than anything you can say about Carl Paladino. And I am technically registered on your team and your father is one of my political heroes. What does that say about others not similarly inclined?

PLEASE NOTE: While I do not advocate violence against any citizen regardless of their belief system (religious or otherwise) that does not mean that I do not advocate critical analysis, legitimate and thoughtful inquiry of movements that impinge on Liberty, Freedom, Democracy and Capitalism itself such as Islamism. Satirizing Islamism is included in my first amendment right of free expression. If Islam is to survive in any form in America then like minded people must stand up and check who is funding the proliferation of mosques and towards what end. Islam must reform itself from the inside out, even if that means that westernized American Muslims form their own church and disconnect from the global network and leadership of Radical Islam. All too often the term for Angry Muslims or Radical Muslim in Europe and Asia is “Imam”– enlightened spiritual leader, even if said leaders calls for beheading others who defame Islam. As much as we must embrace Americanized Muslims who wish to leave in peace and harmony with their fellow Americans and protect them from being lumped in with the lunatics, we must denounce those who seek to establish something else entirely in America. To those who wish to come to me with their fatwa’s I say bring it on brother. But please be advised, should you come with the sword you will die by the sword.

I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid
To take a step, to take a step
Everybody, everybody
Come take my hand
We’ll walk this world together
Through the storm
Whatever weather
Cold or warm
I’m just letting you know that
You’re not alone
-Eminem (2010)

Although Andrew Cuomo ultimately dropped out of the race, his rebuilding plans were some of the most creative of any of the major candidates. He saw the rebuilt downtown area as a sort of high-tech capitalist utopia: New York City cultural landmarks, a relocated World Bank, an integrated transportation system, a developed waterfront with a harbor economy, and a newly commissioned World Institute of Health, doing valuable research while also creating a biotechnology economy.

There is a hole in the soul of our metropolis which will not be cured no matter how many photo ops our political leaders take at ribbon cutting ceremonies at other restoration and development projects around the city. Who would have thought that through three Mayoral Administrations of Mayor Mike Bloomberg, three Governors with a coming 4th in short order, that we could build steps to literally no where in Times Square, multiple high rises across the metropolis, new sports stadiums for the Mets, Yankees and Jets and Giants, engage in multiple New York Restoration Projects, but the one project central to the revitalization of New York City, that would have provided the BEST PHOTO OP is one that no leader wanted. Standing in front of the rebuilt Twin Towers.

I AM TO BLAME. I am an American. I am a New Yorker; a citizen of this wonderfully historic metropolis and of the United States of America. Paul Revere never said “who me?” or “should I speak now or later?” When is the right time to raise your voice and start taking people along forthe Midnight Ride of a Patriot? How strong are your legs? How strong are mine? Can I carry you on my back? Surely I do not know how much gas is that I still have left in the tank. But all I know is should we continue to remain silent, the 9/11 Ripple Effect is that we shall some day wake up in a city, a country and a world that we no longer recognize. Blame me because I believed so passionately in the administrative expertise and CEO skills of Mayor Mike Bloomberg, so much so that I voted for him three times. I never understood, nor did I want to accept until quite recently that our leaders despite all their intellectual gifts, administrative expertise and their ability to advance the interests of New York City, on so many fronts, including the engines of commerce and tourism during a period of tremendous economic uncertainty and instability, may not always possess the testicular fortitude, vision, sense of history or understand the symbolism of their inaction and in essence miss the forest for the trees. One can only wonder if they are even listening to the people who elected them or ruling by fiat. New York was essentially castrated on 9/11, and what we have is a highly efficient leader, who like Benito Mussolini, made the trains run on time. The collapse of the Twin Towers did not merely provide an opportunity for the construction of another Real Estate project in its place.